Band spreads gospel to bar crowds

Lifeless 2 Life band members Loren Bussey, from left, Josh Fox, Nate Kemp, Flip Reyes and Ronnie Boyter view gigs as a way to spread their Christian message.

Editor’s note: This is the sixth in a monthly series on local musicians. Up next: DJ JJ Santiago. If you or your band wants a turn in the spotlight, email a schedule to chip.chandler@amarillo.com.

When he got his conviction, Josh Fox was afraid his days as a part-time rock singer were over.

Breaking the news to his bandmates in Nevertrust was a daunting task, but, to his surprise, they were completely on board.

Fox, you see, wasn’t in trouble with the law. He’d finally become convinced — or, in religious terms, “convicted” — that he had a mission to fulfill.

“I wanted to do a Christian thing,” said Fox, 33. “I sent them a couple of songs, and they had pity on me and said they would play with me.”

Fox’s fellow players don’t remember it quite that way.

Though Nevertrust folded, most of its members stayed together in a new band, Lifeless 2 Life, which performs at 9 p.m. Saturday at No Dogs Allowed, 700 S.W. 10th Ave.

One of the band’s two guitarists, Flip Reyes, 41, said that, initially, he was “taken aback” by Fox’s announcement, “but Josh is a friend, and I support what he does.”

Rounding out the lineup are guitarist Nate Kemp, 33, who joined the Christian band right away; drummer Ronnie Boyter, 34, another Nevertrust member; and bassist Loren Bussey, who came to Lifeless after playing with Texas country singer Brant Moore.

Since reforming (pun not intended), the band has performed at a variety of secular and nonsecular venues, from the Church at Quail Creek to The Nat to Whiskey River.

Finding the gigs — even in a church — has been the easy part, but the band sometimes struggles with pulling in larger crowds, Fox said.

“If we’re playing a bar show, they just stand there and don’t know how to react (at first),” Fox said. “But every bar we’ve played has raved about us and asked us back to play (at a future date) that night.”

The band’s set list ranges from covers like “Jessie’s Girl” and Creed’s “Higher” to the band’s original compositions like “Waking Up.”

Fox said he views the band’s gigs as a kind of outreach.

“When the crowd’s drunk and falling over — and drinking’s not the bad thing, it’s overdoing it that’s bad — but they’re mouthing the words to our songs, I’m like, man, I know this is getting to you,” Fox said.

Kemp, who has played off and on in bands with Boyter since they were friends at Tascosa High School, said playing in a Christian band is his wife’s idea of a dream come true — and, now, his too.

“Just to play with the amount of talent in this room is great,” he said. “But for five guys to believe in the same God, with everyone on the same page and playing for the same purpose, it makes it amazing.”